1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications, and more particularly pertains to a method and apparatus for sending recorded telephonic messages, and for enabling the storage of telephone numbers and other contact information for users of the system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As described in the co-pending patent application entitled xe2x80x9cVoice Message Delivery Method and System,xe2x80x9d voice messaging systems are known and used for sending and receiving messages between users that are Subscribers of the system. These prior art voice messaging systems require that a Subscriber dial into the system to (1) check to see if there are any messages in the voice mailbox, and (2) listen to the messages. These systems are not widely used among residential customers because many residential customers already use existing stand-alone answering machines and have no need or interest in maintaining a separate voice mailbox. In addition, a sender of a message cannot be sure when the Subscriber will (1) notice that a new message is present within his voice mailbox, and (2) listen to the message. Only when the Subscriber has completed both of these steps will the Subscriber receive the Sender""s information.
Because of these and other limitations, the utility of existing voice messaging systems is quite low. As such, it can be appreciated that further improvements are needed in such a system.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an address book for a new voice messaging delivery method and system in which a telephone number or other contact information can be easily stored for later recall by a user.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an address book for a new voice messaging delivery method and system that allows a user to save and recall a telephone number or other contact information by speaking a name associated with the telephone number or other contact information.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an address book for a new voice messaging delivery method and system that allows a Sender to save a telephone number or other contact information after sending a message to a user at the telephone number or other contact information without having to re-enter the telephone number of other contact information.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an address book for a new voice messaging delivery method and system that allows a Recipient to save a telephone number or other contact information after receiving a message to a user at the telephone number or other contact information without having to re-enter the telephone number of other contact information.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an address book for a new voice messaging delivery method and system that encourages a user to add a telephone number or other contact information to an address book by prompting the user to save the telephone number or other contact information after the user has entered it while sending a voice message, or after the user has received a voice message including a reply telephone number.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an address book for a new voice messaging delivery method and system that encourages a user to add a telephone number or other contact information to an address book by prompting the user to save the telephone number or other contact information after the user has completed a transaction, such as sending or receiving a voice message, so that the action of saving the telephone number or other contact information is convenient for the user and is less competitive with the action of sending or receiving a voice message.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an address book for a new voice messaging delivery method and system that detects whether the user has entered the telephone number or other contact information over the telephone, as opposed to recalling it from the address book, and then suggests adding the telephone number or other contact information to their address book if it was entered over the telephone but does not suggest adding the telephone number or other contact information if it was recalled from the address book.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an address book for a new voice messaging delivery method and system that detects whether a telephone number or other contact information already exists within the address book and, if so, notifies the user and provides options for either canceling the address book operation or saving the telephone number or other contact information associated with a different name than the name associated with the duplicate telephone number or other contact information already in the address book.
This brief description sets forth rather broadly the more important features of the present invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contributions to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will be for the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining a preferred embodiment of the invention in detail, it is understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the method set forth in the following description. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood, that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other methods and systems for carrying out the objects and purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.